Annie F. Downs

Three years ago, I started writing a book. Well, I started thinking about a book as I walked the streets of New York City. Before I knew the book, I knew the title. Before I knew the words on the page, I saw the cover. In 20 years of writing, over 15 books and printed resources, I have NEVER seen the cover in my mind before it existed. But standing in the @metmuseum in November 2023, I saw it in my mind. I went home and I drew it on canva. I handed it over to the publisher- “I’ll send you the book at some point, but here’s this cover. THIS is the cover.” (Swipe to see- clearly I’m an *artist*! 😆) And now you can see how the cover designer took my vision and made the perfect cover that tells the whole story of what you’ll find in the book. That has been this whole process with Don’t Let That Hold You Back- once I got going, I knew the whole thing. I knew what I wanted to tell you and I knew now was the time to share this particular story. And it exists behind this incredible cover. Don’t Let That Hold You Back releases on September 15th, but because the cover is all over the internet 😂 and because other people and places are about to announce it too, I wanted to show you the cover first, my friends, and tell y’all how this cover came to be. This is the book I had to walk around New York City to find. This is the life I had to live 45 years to find. This is what is about to find you- real hope that you won’t be held back anymore. 💛 (You are welcome to go ahead and pre-order the book from anywhere you can find it- we’ve linked a bunch of places on dontletthatholdyouback.com!)

🚨IT IS HAPPENING! CUE THE CONFETTI!🚨 @edwardoreddie and I are coming to you this summer and it is time to get all our buddies in a room and have a blast! We did a real photo shoot and everything! 😂 Here’s why to expect (but also you know us- who knows what will actually happen each night): • hot takes on random topics • at least 7 minutes of serious, but probably more, and some convos about HOPE because the world is hard right now • special guests? Maybe?!? Probably? • a DJ to get the whole party started! • laughs upon laughs upon laughs • every show will be different • no shows will be live streamed or recorded • I will take a joke too far • Eddie will bring up some topic and we will publicly discuss whether we can actually talk about that live or not… then we’ll probably just do it. It’s a fun evening that is hopefully a huge exhale for all of us. We need to hang out. Friendship helps. Here’s the list of tour dates: 📍 05.15 — Keller (Fort Worth), TX 📍 05.16 — Colorado Springs, CO 📍 06.05 — Orlando, FL 📍 06.07 — Charlotte, NC 📍 06.12 — Trussville (Birmingham), AL 📍 06.13 — Nashville, TN Tickets go on sale FRIDAY but there’s lots of details at thebuddiestour.com! So start the group texts and make the plans and listen to @thatsoundsfunpodcast on Thursday to get access to a pre-sale! 😏

Coming tomorrow… a new season, a new theme, a new purpose on @thatsoundsfunpodcast .

A lot has changed over the years, but this crew and these friendships still feel the same. Turkey Hat keeps growing, in size, in people (welcome @j.w.jaeger we stinkin love you), and in all the best ways. And honestly, we couldn’t be more thrilled. Night one of the Annie and Eddie Keep Talking Tour was everything you want it to be and then some! 🦃 🎩

The Buddies Tour kicked off beautifully last night- a few hundred friends laughing together for a few hours. @edwardoreddie is a level of unhinged when we are live and aren’t recording that is a true delight. 😂 The @singlepurposeleague hang after the show was a total highlight to me. We had SNAX FOR DAYZ (Cheetos! Bless God!), LaCroix for each gal, @goodranchers beef sticks (thank you Good Ranchers!!) and just so many great conversations. My favorite part of the after party was watching SPL gals who came to the event alone chatting together and making new friends. SPLers are uniquely gifted at helping everyone feel welcome, and I watched it for 30 minutes last night. It was the sweetest. Listen. If you’re in @singlepurposeleague , don’t miss coming to these shows. Come alone. Bring a friend. Come with other SPLers. We’ve got a party just for you and I can only speak for one night, but so far, so great. TheBuddiesTour.com (And if you’re not single or in SPL, we still have a seat for you at The Buddies Tour! 😂 Thus is just an SPL appreciation post. We are in Colorado Springs tonight! Then Charlotte, Orlando, Birmingham, and Nashville!)

✨ Annie F. Downs is bringing her heartfelt, faith-filled conversations to TV with 'I Gotta Ask'—and it already feels like the comforting show we all need right now. 👉️ Swipe to read more! #womansworld #anniefdowns #igottaaskanniefdowns

Wellllll…. Ya girl went and got herself a TV SHOW! Starting May 28 (TWO WEEKS!!), you’ll be able to watch “I Gotta Ask with Annie F. Downs” — each episode is a roundtable conversation, with friends, celebrities, and coaches, helping us dig deeper into topics like fear, money, dating, grief, faith… you know, the easy stuff. I think you’re gonna be blown away by the wisdom and humor of each episode. Sooooo where’s the watch party happening for the first two episode of season 1 that will BOTH release on May 28?!? :) I Gotta Ask with Annie F. Downs coming May 28th exclusively with a Wonder Project subscription on Prime Video. (I promise between now and then, I will make SURE you know how to watch the show!! I will not let you miss this! It’s tooo fun and our guests are toooo good!) #IGottaAskAnnieFDowns In the words of all of us: WOWIE ZOWIE! 🤎

You don't need a vacation to feel like yourself again. Comment PODCAST to get a link sent to you! You might just need 15 minutes and something that reminds you who you were before life got so loud. Annie F. Downs joins Greer this week to talk about why fun is the first thing we cut — and why it should actually be the last. She asks one question that might change how you think about joy entirely: What did you do for fun when you were eight? New episode is out now. Come have some fun. 🎧

We are packed up and ready to fly to Texas tomorrow! I cannot believe the Buddies Tour is really about to start! Thanks to @tprlive.co and @ijm , we’re about to roll up this weekend to Dallas and Colorado Springs with the most fun show in tow. Have Eddie and I rehearsed anything? Absolutely not. Will we? Less than we should. But it’s gonna be a blast. Unhinged as our favorite style. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, head to thebuddiestour.com! We still got seats in both cities! And @lillian.c.fisher kindly made you all a style guide because I keep getting DM’s that you’re nervous about what to wear- well for starters, we’ll have a T-shirt there for you to buy that you’re not gonna wanna miss. But also, just come however you are most comfortable! But maybe the style guides will help a little bit in each city. The guide is linked in my stories! Who is coming to hang with @edwardoreddie and I (and @j.w.jaeger and @katyboat and @jesse_mcgowan and @raneydrums and @jamicrockett and @calihowell_ and MORE!) this weekend?!? 🙋🏼‍♀️ Tickets 👉🏼 thebuddiestour.com

We recently recorded an episode of @singlepurposeleague about mothering, and as soon as we finished, we looked at each other and said, “Should we share this with the larger That Sounds Fun audience?” In episode 1059, you’re going to hear a conversation between @anniefdowns , @katyboat who co-leads Single Purpose League with AFD, and our friend, Christen who is a single mom of two adopted little boys. Our hope is that whatever emotion Mother’s Day holds, you’ll be reminded that the story God writes is full of hope and purpose, even if it’s harder than you would have imagined.

Desire creates discipline according to @jonacuff and we dig into that deeper on episode 1058. We’re talking how to stop putting off the things that matter most, how to actually make progress, and why procrastination doesn’t have to run the show.

About three times in the history of @singlepurposeleague we have decided that the monthly podcast episode needs to be shared with @thatsoundsfunpodcast friends AND needs to be sharable. This month, we are talking about mothering as a single woman. Fostering. Adopting. Birthing. Mentoring. Aunt-ing. (Not a word 😂) For so many single women, this is where our broken hearts beat- longing to be a mother. Our friend Christen joins us- she is profoundly honest about her experience as a single woman fostering and a single woman adopting. Katy and I share more deeply about where our own desires to mother are today. And we talk through many feelings that we have had and know our single friends also have. Tonight is our @singlepurposeleague chapter meeting, which means we’ll jump on a livestream from 7pm-8pmCT, have a raucous chat stream going with the hundreds of single gals that join every month, and we will dive deeper into this. Three invitations for today: 1. If you are a married mama, please listen to this episode to hear what your single girlfriends may be feeling and experiencing. (Mostly, WE LOVE YOUR KIDS AND WANT TO BE AROUND.) 2. Please share this episode. So many women share these feelings, but don’t know how to talk about it or where to talk about it. Just dropping this episode in their text message or DMs may give them hope in ways you can’t imagine. 3. If you’re unmarried today- never married, divorced, widowed- we would love for you to join us in @singlepurposeleague . These are the kind of conversations we get to have together, surrounded by other women who get it. While mothering is our topic for May, DESIRE is our topic for June. Cannot wait to dive into that too. SinglePurposeLeague.com If you have thought about joining, but just haven’t done it yet, this is a great month to try. Give yourself two months in this community and if it serves you, stay! If it doesn’t, we totally get it. But May and June are gonna be two great months in SPL. I cannot wait to hear your thoughts about this episode. Thank you in advance for sharing it so that this story can help many single women feel seen, loved, and cared for. 🤎